Wow--your rant definitely struck a chord with me, I hear ya! I am made to feel like I am hurting other people's feelings by being honest with them on how much I do or don't want to share--like what the hell, I am the one going to sleep at night with cancer and all of the emotional and physical traum...

At the end of the day, it's those little things that no one but those of us going through it can answer. They just can't know and then they can get you worked up that something is wrong because they just don't have first hand knowledge to say it's a normal feeling. I agree, in some ways would be int...

You made me laugh, Beans Mama--the oddball suggestions we get to "cure" our cancer. It is tough when it comes from someone so close also. I am so in agreement about the whole "strong" comments--like we signed up for this shit?! I am not brave either--I was dealt a crappy blow and...

Wow--you got a lunch also?! How nice. Well, you did it, you got that first one under your belt, it is no longer the unknown. Hope the rest of your week goes smoothly.

Hi Tammy. Glad you are back in that this is the place to come to when you need the encouragement that only fellow CRC people can give. While I cannot compare my four rounds of FOLFOX so far to your history of chemo treatments, I can 100% agree with you that it does suck in many ways and yes, it is v...

Ugh, sorry to hear that you not only have to deal with your gene mutation, but also people who just don't realize what they say can be so insensitive. At least you can always come on here and we will totally get your frustration and have no problems listening to you or anyone else let off some steam...

It's funny because from what I have read and what I have experienced (have done four of eight rounds of FOLFOX so far), no two people react quite the same. I am so fortunate to have no nausea or diarrhea issues, but I definitely have constipated movements in my colostomy, nothing that hurts just tha...

Hey! Glad to hear you didn't need much in the way of meds after your port insertion. Yeah, I would say give it a good two to three weeks before you do truly forget that the port is there. I definitely felt odd twinges throughout the upper chest/neck area those first few weeks afterward and attribute...

I was just checking out the board and recognized your name from the UOAA forum as well--we travel in the same social circles these days. :-) I am 45 and just went to cancer center today for round four of my FOLFOX treatment. It is amazing how vastly different our bodies handle these toxic drugs. I p...

The absolute beauty of this forum, in my opinion anyway, is to realize we are not alone. It's tough when the people around us aren't going through all that we are (and thankfully so for their sake). To have this forum--to hear people have the same fears and emotions and pains we do goes a long way m...

You and I have similar situations. I was diagnosed back in August with a large tumor in the distal rectum that was right up against the anal verge. I too had the exact same chemoradiation schedule, my Xeloda was 2600 mg per day I believe. At any rate, I was rather bummed to have gone through the phy...

Brent-- Wow, you so totally summed up exactly word for word how i am feeling regarding this whole experience as well. I have been reading many numerous posts over the past few months (was diagnosed in August, rectal cancer stage 2a--and like you, zero risk factors or family history), but I just had ...